A proposal and a loss

A roar went up among the people. I looked up to find the people had gathered around in a huge circle and dotted around the circle, were photographers. These weren’t ordinary photographers, these were the media. I recognized some of them. Marybelle, stood out, microphone in hand pointing right at us.

Luca had set this all up. The room became deathly silent as the seconds ticked by. I could feel my cheeks coloring and my heart pounding as I realized there was no way out of this situation.

To say no now would be a disaster. Goodness only knew how many people were watching this live in their houses. I gazed around at the people again, frantic to find a way out, but apart from the television cameras all pointing at me, I could only see Jenny, waving at me with a huge grin on her face.

I looked back at Luca. I was already engaged to him. How hard would it be to say yes? And yet the word stuck in my throat. The competition between him and Cynder would be over for good.

Luca raised his eyebrows, waiting for my answer. I was out of time.

“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

A huge cheer went up, and Luca hugged me, twirling me around. As he slipped the heavy ring onto my finger, I caught a glimpse of Cynder leaving the marquee.

“I need the bathroom,” I said quickly. Luca let me go, and I ran outside for some fresh air. I saw Cynder walking towards his guest house, so I picked up my dress and followed him.

“I didn’t know he was going to do that,” I said, as we both reached the house at the same time. “We can still salvage this. We can still hold the meeting. This doesn’t have to change anything.”

“This changes everything!” shouted Cynder, opening his door. Without invitation, I followed him through.

“You already knew I was engaged to him. I’ve never lied to you.”

“And I’ve never lied to you, but you don’t believe me, do you? You still think that Dru is my wife. What do I have to do to prove to you that she isn’t?”

“I do believe you,” I replied.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said, pulling his bag out and throwing clothes into it. “The public will see the proposal and the competition will be done. I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I’ve packed.”

“You can’t go. We need you for the meeting!” I said, clutching at straws. I couldn’t bear to part with him on such bad terms.

“The meeting was never going to happen.”

“What do you mean? Of course, it was. Let’s go back and bring them all into the palace now.”

“I tried to tell you earlier. Those people in there. I don’t know who they are, but they aren’t Magi, and they definitely aren’t members of The Freedom of Magic.” He zipped up his bag and darted past me angrily. The last I saw of him was him storming down the palace driveway. At the end, the guards opened the gates, and then he was gone.

“Are you ok?” asked Luca a little later. He’d found me on the opposite side of the house, sitting alone on a garden bench.

“Why did you do it?” I asked. “We were supposed to be meeting with the Freedom of Magic. Today was about coming up with a plan to fight the MDS.”

“I’m sorry. I told you a little white lie, but you said last week that I should plan something spectacular for our date. It got me thinking. When I told Jenny my idea, she loved it. I couldn’t tell Cynder of course, so I told him you didn’t want him to help. To be honest, I didn’t think you would want him to help after all the lies he told you. I thought you’d love it.”

“It was beautiful,” I replied, trying not to hurt his feelings. “But I felt blindsided. If only you’d told me what you were planning to do. I could have organized the meeting for another day.”

“What man tells the girl he’s going to propose to that he’s going to propose to her in advance? It kinda spoils the surprise don’t you think? If you are worried about the Freedom of Magic people, I’ll ask Cynder to rearrange it.”

“You can’t. He’s already left.”

Luca was silent for a moment.

“That’s good news though, right? The people were beginning to hate him anyway. It can be just you and me now, just as it should be. We get married in two months. Your poor mother has been planning it all by herself. Maybe it’s about time, you let this whole Magi thing rest for a bit and spend some time looking at wedding dresses and the like? To be honest, you look exhausted. It’s about time you took a break.”

“But the Magi!”

“They are already here in Silverwood, thanks to you. They aren’t going to go anywhere just because you are marrying me. Cynder has been outed as a liar. They’ll understand why you couldn’t marry him. The guy is already married! Leo and Dean are recruiting the Magi into the police force. When the Magi see that, they’ll know it’s safe to apply for other jobs and go to any university. You’ve done enough. It’s time for you to focus on yourself.”

I nodded wearily. So much of what he said made sense. I was exhausted and sick of my life revolving around the media. Maybe a couple of weeks off would do me good. Maybe I could even begin to get excited about my upcoming wedding. If I wasn’t so preoccupied with the Magi, maybe I could persuade Mother to let me have the wedding I wanted rather than the all-singing-all-dancing extravaganza I knew her to be planning.

I took his hand and let him walk me back to the marquee, my heels digging into the soft ground as we walked, leaving a brown and green layer over the soft pink. As we both entered the marquee, everyone descended on us. People I didn’t know hugged me and congratulated me. The women gushed over my new ring while the men patted Luca on the back and told him he’d made a great catch, as if I were no more than a salmon swimming upstream.

At some point, Marybelle, along with her camera crew bustled in.

She pointed her microphone right at me.

“Congratulations,” she said, grinning widely. I noticed she’d had her teeth whitened and they now gleamed so brightly I was worried they’d glare on the camera.

“Thank you,” I replied politely, feeling sick. I wasn’t prepared for this interview one bit, but I could already guess how it was going to go.

“How are you feeling right now? It’s a very exciting time.”

Sick, nervous, sad, tired.

“I am excited. What girl wouldn’t be when her prince proposes to her. Today has turned out to be a wonderful day. I’m very happy.”

“It looks like the competition is over. Did the right man win?”

“Of course.” I gripped Luca’s hand for encouragement. “I said all along I was going to marry Prince Luca. We are both really happy.”

“What about Cynder?” she asked, gazing around the marquee.

“I’m afraid he had to go, but I wish him well in his future endeavors. He has been nothing short of amazing in his time here at the palace, and I know that without him, there would be far fewer Magi here in Silverwood. I want the people watching this at home to know that I still support the Magi a hundred percent and me choosing to marry Luca has nothing to do with that. I said I would choose a man based on love, and I was true to that. The police force has implemented a new initiative focused on the recruitment of Magi, and as before, the universities are now open to everyone. I really hope that all you Magi out there stay to help us build a better future for Silverwood.”

“Where is Cynder now?” Marybelle asked, clearly not interested in what I had to say about politics.

“I don’t know. He decided that it was his time to leave. This week has been very hard on him. There have been a lot of rumors circulating which aren’t true, and I, for one, believe him. I hope that now that this is all over, the media will leave him alone.”

I tried to make it sound like a threat, but Marybelle wasn’t biting.

“What now, for you and Prince Luca?”

“The prince and I have decided to take a small step back from our public life so we can concentrate on our upcoming wedding. As you can imagine, there is a lot to plan. We will still be fulfilling our royal duties but in a much less public way. The last few weeks have been fun, but appearing on TV all the time can be quite exhausting. In the fall, after our wedding, I hope to tour some of Silverwood’s universities to see how the Magi are settling in.”

It was not something I’d actually planned as it had just come to me in the spur of the moment, but it was a good idea.

Marybelle thanked me and nodded to her cameraman. The light on the camera turned off, and the interview was over.

I wanted to escape, to leave the marquee and spend the rest of the day alone in my room to process everything, but as with everything else in my life right now, I once again found myself in a situation I had little control over.

This was my engagement party, and although there was no chance I was going to enjoy it, I could at least try.

Leo and Elise were there along with my mother, Dean, and Daniel.

Elise was looking better than she had in a couple of weeks and now had that healthy pregnancy glow that people talk about. I watched as she and Leo danced to the music. They looked so good together. Leo only had eyes for her as he twirled her around the marquee, and she looked so happy. I wondered if I looked as happy as she did from an outside perspective. If I did, it was only good acting. I was trying to feel happy, but something big was lost to me. It wasn’t just Cynder, although his leaving had left a gaping hole in my heart, especially under the circumstances. If only I could see him again to apologize, to make him realize that I did believe him and always had.

I knew he wouldn’t go back to Thalia. The press would be all over him there, and that was if the king and queen gave him his job back. Luca had asked that they would all those weeks ago, but that was before the Drusilla scandal. I sipped at my champagne, hoping the alcohol would make me feel better, but it didn’t. I was already numb.

The afternoon quickly turned into night, and eventually, the people began to leave. Apart from the few family members and Dean and Daniel, I didn’t know any of them. I’d have asked Luca where they all came from, but I didn’t have the energy. When it was finally late enough that I could make my excuses to leave, I told Luca I had a headache from all the champagne and headed to the marquee’s exit.

I was just about to go outside when I felt a hand on my arm.

“Leo,” I said when I saw who it was.

“Charmaine, I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day, but Elise said I should let you enjoy your big day first.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to come into the police headquarters tomorrow. We have a lead on The Regent. We think we are getting close to capturing him.”